The hottest lava discovered in the last 2.5 billion years is in Costa Rica, according to a study led by Costa Rican scientist Esteban Gazel from Virginia Tech.
The finding was made after analysis and inspections in Tortugal, located in Colorado Abangares.
The study, conducted by Gazel and doctoral student Jarek Trela, provides unprecedented evidence on the Earth’s thermal evolution.
Studies done in the country have located lavas with conditions of fusion and crystallization similar to the hot rocks that appeared in the Eon (time division of the Earth) known as Archaic (2.5 or four billion years ago).
In that period of time, the Earth’s mantle temperature was warmer than now because of a greater amount of radioactive heat produced by the decomposition of elements like potassium, thorium and uranium. Because the globe was warmer, that geologic time interval is marked by the widespread occurrence of a single rock known as komatita,”
cites the study, published in the journal Nature Geoscience.
Gazel explained that the komatitas were no longer produced on Earth after the archaic eon because the mantle was refreshed. However, scientists and researchers discovered similar rocks while studying Galápagos lava flows on Costa Rican soil.
In Tortugal, a cluster of rocks dating back 90 million years, had concentrations of magnesium as high as archaic komatites. Likewise, evidence was found in the texture of extremely hot lava flow temperatures.
To determine these analyzes, the scientists combined geochemical studies and applying experimental thermometers to data of very high precision on the composition of minerals.
What will this change? Gazel told the press that
they are going to change our models about the processes that govern the interior of the planet. In addition, these rocks are part of giant (magmatic) igneous events that ended in massive extinctions.”